Inbetweenisode #14 covers a great daily-drinking ripe pu’erh that is very much to James’ taste, 2012 Yong de Blue. If you liked the Yong de Organic Ripe pu’erh covered in inbetweenisode #1 this is an excellent alternate.

Excellent comment about the psychological impact of looking at the price, I appreciate when you guys talk about the “meta” issues/considerations related to really enjoying tea (ie, Denny’s episode on mindfulness and tea). This discussion ties in well with all of the other postings about value, which I have found incredibly helpful in making decisions about which tea to purchase and were to pay my “tuition” as a newer pu-erh drinker.

I agree with Peter about ripe. I wonder what it would look like to return the “tea of month” posting to update prices and add new considerations, so that way there is a place for readers/viewers to go to see all of your ripe reviews and how they compare to each other. -Not sure if this would make your reviews overly hierarchical though, I am thinking like section of the BBC TV show,Top Gear, were the hosts post the lap times of their “stars in their reasonably priced car” on their leader board.

Thanks for the comment and kind words. As someone constantly thinking about real value in tea I agree with much of what you’ve said. Alot of times I’m influenced by external factors whether I recognize it or not. Sometimes limiting the noise can be fun, refreshing and informative!

That’s a really good idea re: tea of the month. I could see it being very useful for purchasing and sub-categorizing. Unfortunately, I’m a bit hesitant just because it’d amount to alot of menial work. I also have mixed feelings about ratings somewhat generally. That being said, I’ve been considering adding a few new features to tea of the month that help to address these things as well as improve transparency and give better perspective. Stay tuned.

Hey James,
Great stuff man. I have really been enjoying the inbetweenisodes and I’m as well glad to see you bringing on more ripes. I really enjoy this tea as a cheap daily drinker and find a really great brown sugar or molasses type sweetness on the front with a great forest or woodsy type flavor through the middle that really to me makes this a great beginner ripe for people once one gets passed the first steeping or so with that little bit of storage taste. This type of ripe to me really shows how even smaller productions of ripe tea has come a long way and they are priced just right. Lastly I think it would be great if you guys would do some more aged white teas on the show it really intrigues me as being something I had not heard very much about. Thanks again James for all the great info.
-Paul